Washington, DC – Last night, the Trump administration ended the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program for Haiti. TPS provides legal status to individuals from designated countries who are unable to return home due to ongoing armed conflict, disaster, or other exigent and temporary circumstances. Termination of TPS will have a devastating effect on 50,000 Haitians and their families, many with U.S. citizen children.

This is the third termination of TPS in three months. The next major TPS decision, due on January 8, 2018, will affect nearly 200,000 nationals of El Salvador. In all, there are more than 320,000 TPS holders in the U.S. from ten designated countries that also include Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

Michelle Brané, Director of the Migrant Rights and Justice program at Women's Refugee Commission made the following statement:

“Women’s Refugee Commission strongly condemns the Trump administration’s decision to terminate the Temporary Protected Status program for the 50,000 Haitians living here in the U.S. Haitians with TPS in America are working in critical industries, buying homes, and raising families that include thousands of U.S. citizen children. We know all too well the effects that a parent’s deportation has on children, whether they are left behind or join their parents in a country they have never known. The decision to end TPS for these countries will devastate communities and could spell setbacks for children that will have a ripple effect on school systems, healthcare, and social services across the U.S. as children are left without primary caregivers and at risk of becoming involved with the U.S. foster care system. This is another example of the cruel and unusual punishment the Trump administration is heaping on to mixed-status families.”